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OTTAWA—This past year in federal politics may not have been transformational, but there were moments which went beyond the immediate news cycle and will have an impact for years to come.

Here are five that make my personal list, in chronological order:

• March 24: New Democrats choose Thomas Mulcair as their leader and enter the post-Jack Layton era.

Never before have the federal NDP had so much at stake in a leadership race.

Mulcair, after a fast start, has some outside the capital wondering where he went, but he has held the party strength, shows no signs of weakening in Quebec and has kept his young, inexperienced caucus in line.

He has the party focused on winning in 2015, building on the Layton legacy.

He's been getting largely good reviews in Ottawa, but expect to see him on the road more often in the year to come.

Even those of us who initially thought this was a stupid stunt had to admit that the pre-fight hype meant something had to give when the Liberal MP and Conservative senator stepped into the ring.

This is not to say that Trudeau launched his leadership bid that night, but he left with more than just his pride and his face intact.

The boxing ring became a metaphor for a young man who was seen as all show horse, no work horse. He still has to prove his gravitas, but had he been carried out of the ring after absorbing a beating that night, the political year could have unfolded much differently.

• June 13: Bob Rae will not run for the Liberal leadership.

“I've reached the conclusion that the way in which I can serve the party best is by not running for the permanent leadership,” Rae said.

He had been boxed in by promising not to run if he took the interim job, but he also saw the Trudeau train coming down the track.

By stepping aside, Rae cleared the way for the Trudeau run, making it inevitable that the Papineau MP and son of the late prime minister would essentially have no choice but to run for the party leadership.

It may have been the right decision, but it had to be a tough one for a man who consistently seemed to be at war with the moment in his political life, often a victim of timing.

But Rae will be remembered for keeping a badly damaged party afloat as it seeks renewal.

• June 15: The omnibus budget bill passes the Commons.

The opposition forced an all-night vote, a 22-hour marathon in all, but the Conservatives steamrolled ahead in the face of public outrage and a fierce Parliamentary battle because they had the numbers and that's how they wanted to do this.

The bill was laden with measures not even hinted at in the Conservative platform in 2011 — raising the age eligibility for Old Age Security and overhauling Employment Insurance — and measures that had nothing to do with the budget, including an overhaul and weakening of environmental regulations.

Thus emboldened, they did it again this month but the opposition this time was diluted.

The Conservatives didn't invent omnibus bills, and indeed an opposition member named Stephen Harper railed against one when the Liberals acted similarly, but the Conservatives broke new ground in packaging so many legislative amendments, rules and regulations into two bills in one year.

There is nothing stopping them from doing the same in 2013 and beyond if they so choose.

This was perhaps the trickiest decision the prime minister has ever had to make and the world was watching. His approval linked with the warning that he would not let Canadian resources be taken over by state-owned enterprises seemed to be a case of slicing the baby in half, but it remains to be seen whether it leads to a rush of minority offshore stakeholders or others come calling, claiming to fall into Harper's “exceptional circumstances” asterisk he placed on his decision.

The deal was worth $15.1 billion, but its long-reaching importance far outstrips the dollar value.

Tim Harper is a national affairs writer. His column appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday. tharper@thestar.ca

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